Fierce calls for global action

Anti-coup protesters now seek international military intervention

AS the carnage unfolded on the streets here, one hashtag made its rounds on social media: #WeNeedR2PInMyanmar.

R2P refers to Responsibility to Protect, a principle adopted in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, that justifies the international community taking collective action if a state fails to protect its own population from mass atrocities like war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

This action includes steps taken through humanitarian aid or diplomacy, or more forceful ones, as a last resort.

For many Myanmar anti-coup protesters dodging stun grenades, rubber bullets and live rounds, Responsibility to Protect meant only one thing – military intervention.

At least 18 people were killed on Sunday as the military regime that seized power in the Feb 1 coup cracked down on protesters across the country, in cities like Yangon, Mandalay and Dawei.

Calls like “We need US Army” that could easily be brushed off as youthful naivety on the part of anticoup protesters immediately after the coup have now acquired a darker undertone.

“Up until the last couple of days, I didn’t want military intervention,” a young woman who spent her Sunday ferrying protesters to safety in her car said.

“But now the situation has changed. Myanmar people are waiting impatiently for the United Nations (to implement) R2P.”

So frenzied is this discussion online that some have even argued against Myanmar’s ethnic armed groups clashing with the military in case it deterred foreign troops from setting foot on Myanmar soil.

According to the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, which conducts research and advocacy on the issue, R2P has been invoked in more than 80 United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning the crisis in countries like Somalia and Syria.

Whether it might be invoked for Myanmar could depend on what happens at the special Asean foreign ministers meeting today.

While officially limited by its policy of non-interference, Asean, by virtue of its long-standing engagement with member state Myanmar, has one of the highest chances of forging some form of political negotiation within the country, analysts say.

The junta is now on a much weaker footing than it was three weeks ago, political analyst Soe Myint Aung said.

As such, the regime could try to lean on Asean for recognition. — The Straits Times/ANN